In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London

Philip Mernick’s East End Shopfronts

May 24, 2016

by the gentle author

These splendid shopfronts from the beginning of the last century are published courtesy of Philip Mernick who has been collecting postcards of the East End for more than thirty years. In spite of their age, the photographs are of such high quality that they capture every detail and I could not resist enlarging parts of them so you can peer closer at the displays.

How things have changed ! ! Images like these are not just of interest on a nostalgic level they are also an invaluable reference to the way we lived in previous times, the two things I notice most of all about these shops is first the shear volume of goods that were on display in the windows and secondly the smart and professional appearance of the people working there all wearing matching overalls and clothing and even from these images you can tell they obviously had great pride in not just the quality of the goods they sold but also appearance of the shop itself and as someone who has spent my whole life in retail I can very much relate to this, even in the more recent past of the 50s and 60s I can remember what a “big event” it used to be when my father would re dress the windows in our shop in Upton Park, he would easily take two to three days to complete each window, filling every available space with something and constantly going back and forth back and forth in and out of the shop to check that each item was in exactly the right place and in perfect position and then spending hours and hours hand making all the tickets for each item out of card and using a selection of brushes and special poster paint to write the prices and comments, it was really quite artistic, sadly as is the moden trend most shops now no longer seem to even bother with window displays and I think that is a great loss, but then Im an old man so I probably have out dated views on things like this but I do lament these changes and the general “death” of the local shop as portrayed with such pride in these lovely images seen hear, what a truly lovely thing to collect.

Although I realised that “healthy” and vegetarian foods existed in England from the nineteenth century I had always thought that they were only available in central London such as Shearns stores. These images suggest that Allinson’s wholemeal bread (and perhaps nut lard if it IS vegetarian!) were also popular in areas with a working class population.

You’ve totally anticipated my wish that I could SEE all the details of these spectacular store fronts.
These photos can be savored on so many levels…….Not only a glimpse into a long-past time and place, but a treatise on lettering/staging/presentation/ephemera and more. The abundance of each shop window is staggering — I can almost feel myself salivating. A fabulous post, worthy of many looks. I’ll be back this afternoon, with a cocktail in hand.

I agree that these photos will bear looking at over and over again, there is such a wealth of detail in each one. The pride that shopkeeper’s took in their window displays is very evident and the pride that they and their families and staff took in their appearance too, what a contrast to the situation today!! I have a similar postcard photo of my great grandfather’s shop in Upper Clapton Road, he was a florist and garden contractor, and not only is the window display a sight to behold, but I am told that he also has a fountain surrounded by ferns inside the shop. A lady has also sent me delightful photographs of her relative, who worked in the shop and market garden, and these show an immaculately turned out gentleman with a carnation in his buttonhole which, she tells me, he was never without!

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Unauthorized use or duplication of these words and pictures without written permission is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Spitalfields Life with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Spitalfields Life is nourished by a weekly vegetable box from Leila's Shop in Calvert Avenue.